Emil had never seen the stars.

And so, that night, he convinced his parents to once again let him out. They stood in front of the door, necks craned to look up at the sky. His small hands were wrapped around theirs and a soft smile graced his tiny face. A breeze blew softly, ruffling their clothing and carrying their whispers along.

After so long, this family had finally learned of happiness together. For years, all they had known of was grief and prayers.

To them, a night like this wasn’t far from perfection.

Emil’s mother couldn’t help but feel hope for the future. Because Emil was able to move, maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to escape this town. She and Felix had been discussing it for a while, but there was a baron’s family that wasn’t too far from where they were currently living. If possible, they could get jobs as servants there and live out the rest of their life peacefully. There, they wouldn’t have to worried about their son being murdered.

They just had to make it out of this place first.

To others, this did not seem like an amazing dream, but for people who had been relegated to the bottom of society, even just serving as servants to minor nobility was something to be proud of.

That, and if Emil truly did have talent with magic, his opportunity to enroll in school.

Just thinking of it made her grin grow broader, her eyes twinkling as they held the stairs in them.

Felix, noticing her exuberance, questioned, “What’s gotten into you?”

“Don’t you think that the future seems very bright?” She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment.

Clara had always been subpar. She didn’t have any real aspirations ever since she found out she couldn’t cast magic.

Honestly, she was only in the twenty-somethings herself and her husband was only a bit older. But she had given up on hope a long time ago. She thought that they would die in this miserable place. Even though she had met Felix here and had her first and only child, she still never felt much joy.

From birth, her son had been clinging onto what little life he had. She never got to relish in the true beauty of childbirth.

But within the short of a month, all of this had changed. Her pale, lifeless appearance had grown to be more vibrant along with her son’s.

This moment, these feelings, it was all that she had ever wanted in life!

She felt a couple hard tugs on the tattered sleeve of her dress. She cast her gaze downwards. “Yes, honey?”

“I don’t feel well,” Emil spoke. He placed a hand on his stomach, looking sick.

At this, both of his parents wore looks of fright.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Emil didn’t know how to explain that he felt something deep in his very core. It was telling him to run. To hide and protect himself. The sense was maddening. It made him want to pull out his hair and scream. He didn’t like it at all. He wanted to tear it out of his body if he could. “I… Something bad is coming.”

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His mother put on a confused face. “What does that mean? Are you hurt, are you feeling pain?”

He nodded his head, not knowing how to explain the difference between the pain and the paranoia he felt. “I want to go back inside.” Not safe. He hesitated before speaking again, “I want to leave.”

“Honey, what are you talking about?”

“Something bad is coming,” Emil repeated, clenching his fists tightly. “It’s very bad. I want to leave.”

Clara smiled awkwardly and looked at Felix. Neither of them really understood what Emil wanted from them. Something bad was coming? What was he referring to? Was he relapsing?

Felix spoke, “Emil, it’s too dangerous for us to go anywhere at night. There are scary beasts out in the forest.”

“No,” Emil whined, “they’re coming. The scary ones are coming.” The terror was evident in his eyes. “Mommy, Daddy, can we go?”

Once again, his parents glanced at each other.

“Well, okay. Let’s go back inside and to sleep.” Felix grabbed his son’s hand and guided him inside.

“No, no!” Emil yelled, trying to tug himself free. “We have to leave!”

Felix was surprised by the pure amount of strength in his son’s grip. “Emil,” he scolded.

But the shrieks didn’t cease, instead, their volume and pitch only intensified. “No, no, no!” Emil wiggled and pulled, the madness in his eyes increasing.

“Emil!” Clara cried out, trying to help Felix gain control over Emil. “Calm down, it’s okay.”

The boy continued to kick, twisting his body violently. “No!”

Doors were beginning to open as the villagers were woken up by the screams of a child. Curious gazes shifting around, trying to find the source in the darkness.

“Run! We have to--” Emil’s body went slack completely, prompting Clara to catch him before he collapsed to the ground. “Oh no.”

A putrid smelling wind rolled over the village.

The scent of rotting meat was overpowering, causing everyone who caught with of it to gag.

“What is that stench?” Clara questioned, covering her nose with her mouth.

Felix shook his head, not knowing the answer. Suddenly, his son’s tantrum was starting to sound less like a child’s silly ramblings. Even he was starting to get a bad feeling.

A distant howl was heard. After it, many more howls erupted, but those ones sounded far closer.

“Inside, let’s get inside.”

Clara agreed wordlessly and the three of them quickly darted back inside, slamming the door shut.

“Help me block the door,” Felix instructed.

“What?”

“Just help me.”

Emil watched his parents flip over their table and push it front of the door, piling up their chairs in top of it, too. The barricade looked quite solid despite their lack of belongings. Still, he felt fear.

Felix walked over to where the dining table once sat, using his hands to start digging into the densely packed dirt that served as their floor. “Help me!” he urged his wife, struggling to break through the layers.

“Oh!” Clara dropped to her knees, mimicking his actions.

After a minute or so of digging, the top of an inconspicuous wooden box emerged. Felix desperately began grabbing at it, trying to dislodge it from the ground. The struggle was short, though, and he tore the container out from the flooring. Without wasting a minute, he removed the top and began sorting through its contents.

The box was full of all of the magical tools and scrolls that he had stolen from his family before being exiled. He had gone through a quite of few of them, but there was a substantial amount left.

Felix felt sweat beading up on his forehead. He didn’t know if this would be enough to get them through the night. He didn’t even know what their enemies were.

And, with practically all of these objects, he was just blindly using them! Their effects were unknown to him. Normally, he would run a small test before completely activating the item with a drop of blood. But there was no time for that tonight.

The stench had entered their home now, causing nausea to make their heads spin. Felix gripped his stomach tightly, forcing down the urge to vomit all over the box. Clara, too, had paled considerably and her face was tinged with green.

The only one that didn’t seem to be affected was Emil. Instead, the little boy forced himself into the corner furthest from the door. He whispered in a tiny voice, “They’re here.”